News
You Can Now Report Stolen Art Using Interpol’s New App
Users can browse more than 50,000 objects reported stolen or upload their own images to check whether a work has shady provenance.
Art Crime
Film
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Heist Gets the Netflix Treatment
The miniseries This Is a Robbery is at its best when working through the stranger details of the infamous, still-unsolved crime.
News
UK Police Are Prohibited From Searching the Queen’s Home for Looted Goods
The exception for the Queen is part of an act established in 2017 allowing police the power to search areas where they suspect stolen artifacts may be held.
Film
A Very Rich Take on the Largest Art Fraud in US History
When you’re surrounded by courtiers who serve your every need, are you really surprised when a few of them end up being jesters and sycophants?
News
In an Unusual Crime, Someone Threw a Stolen Painting Into the Gardner Museum
The Boston museum, the site of one of history’s most notorious unsolved art crimes, now finds itself indirectly connected to another.
Film
A Modern Update to the "Gentleman Thief" Genre
Starring Omar Sy, the French Netflix series Lupin is a delightful crime thriller.
Opinion
The British Museum Isn't Doing Enough to Fight Illegal Antiquities Trafficking
While the museum presents its attempt to identify trafficked antiquities as an altruistic enterprise, its policing of the antiquities market also distracts from its historic role in acquiring looted objects.
Film
Fargo’s TV Adaptation Is a Folksy, Homespun Tale of Murder and Mayhem
The series has returned for a fourth season of pitch-black humor and quirky characters.
Opinion
A Benin Bronze With Fishy Provenance Goes to Auction
While conversations about historic monuments ignite public debate, a small sculpture which was likely looted heads to auction at Christie’s Paris.
Art
“Looting”: The Revolt of the Oppressed
The genesis of the term “loot” in colonial India has racist origins. Now, after the US president called for the killing of those “looting,” its origins become increasingly significant.
Film
An Unlikely Friendship Between a Painter and the Man Who Stole Her Artwork
The new documentary The Painter and the Thief finds the complexities in what could have been a basic feel-good tale.
Opinion
The True Cost of Museum Fakes
The Museum of the Bible recently admitted all of its Dead Sea Scroll fragments are forgeries. But when fake antiquities are donated to museums, taxpayers lose.